Seven legislators from across the political spectrum flew to the Dongsha Islands (東沙群島, known as the Pratas Islands in English) in the South China Sea yesterday as part of efforts to highlight Taiwan’s sovereignty amid growing tensions in the disputed area.
The trip came on the heels of a visit late last month by several other lawmakers to Taiping Island (太平島), the main island of the Spratley Islands in the simmering region, for a similar purpose.
The latest trip was led by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Mark Chen (陳唐山), a co-convener of the legislature’s Foreign and National Defense Committee.
The other members of the group were DPP legislators Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯), Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) and Hsueh Ling (薛凌), as well as their Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) colleagues Chan Kai-chen (詹凱臣) and Chen Cheng-hsiang (陳鎮湘), and People First Party Legislator Chang Show-foong (張曉風).
Chang said prior to the group’s departure from Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) that she was very pleased to join the group on the tour of the Dongsha Islands, which are located about 450km off Taiwan’s southwestern coast.
“This is my first trip to Dongsha and I hope to look into the ecological and fishery protection measures in place there,” Chang said.
Tsai said the Dongsha and Taiping islands are Taiwanese sovereign territory.
“As tensions in the South China Sea have been escalating recently, we want to reassert our country’s claim to the region through our visit,” Tsai said, adding that the group would also help boost the morale of military and coast guard personnel stationed on the islands.
The South China Sea is seen as a flashpoint because Taiwan, China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei claim all or part of the 3.5 million square kilometer area, which includes the Spratly, Paracel and Pratas islands, the Macclesfield Bank and the Scarborough Shoal.
A standoff between armed Chinese and Philippine vessels has continued since April 10 near the Scarborough Shoal, known as Huangyan Island (黃岩島) in Taiwan, over conflicting sovereignty claims.
Taiwan occupies Dongsha, the largest island in the South China Sea, as well as Taiping Island, the largest island in the Spratlys.
CHAOS: Iranians took to the streets playing celebratory music after reports of Khamenei’s death on Saturday, while mourners also gathered in Tehran yesterday Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in a major attack on Iran launched by Israel and the US, throwing the future of the Islamic republic into doubt and raising the risk of regional instability. Iranian state television and the state-run IRNA news agency announced the 86-year-old’s death early yesterday. US President Donald Trump said it gave Iranians their “greatest chance” to “take back” their country. The announcements came after a joint US and Israeli aerial bombardment that targeted Iranian military and governmental sites. Trump said the “heavy and pinpoint bombing” would continue through the week or as long
TRUST: The KMT said it respected the US’ timing and considerations, and hoped it would continue to honor its commitments to helping Taiwan bolster its defenses and deterrence US President Donald Trump is delaying a multibillion-dollar arms sale to Taiwan to ensure his visit to Beijing is successful, a New York Times report said. The weapons sales package has stalled in the US Department of State, the report said, citing US officials it did not identify. The White House has told agencies not to push forward ahead of Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), it said. The two last month held a phone call to discuss trade and geopolitical flashpoints ahead of the summit. Xi raised the Taiwan issue and urged the US to handle arms sales to
BIG SPENDERS: Foreign investors bought the most Taiwan equities since 2005, signaling confidence that an AI boom would continue to benefit chipmakers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) market capitalization swelled to US$2 trillion for the first time following a 4.25 percent rally in its American depositary receipts (ADR) overnight, putting the world’s biggest contract chipmaker sixth on the list of the world’s biggest companies by market capitalization, just behind Amazon.com Inc. The site CompaniesMarketcap.com ranked TSMC ahead of Saudi Aramco and Meta Platforms Inc. The Taiwanese company’s ADRs on Tuesday surged to US$385.75 on the New York Stock Exchange, as strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) applications led to chip supply constraints and boost revenue growth to record-breaking levels. Each TSMC ADR represents
State-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday said that it had confirmed on Saturday night with its liquefied natural gas (LNG) and crude oil suppliers that shipments are proceeding as scheduled and that domestic supplies remain unaffected. The CPC yesterday announced the gasoline and diesel prices will rise by NT$0.2 and NT$0.4 per liter, respectively, starting Monday, citing Middle East tensions and blizzards in the eastern United States. CPC also iterated it has been reducing the proportion of crude oil imports from the Middle East and diversifying its supply sources in the past few years in response to geopolitical risks, expanding
RSS